


The Shadow

by Ellemae



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-14
Updated: 2015-08-14
Packaged: 2018-04-14 17:16:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4572957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellemae/pseuds/Ellemae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six years ago Regina Mills married Leopold Blanchard, CEO of Castle Communications, and became an instant mom to his daughter Mary. Now, trapped in a loveless marriage, Regina plots her escape.</p><p>SwanQueen AU: Where Leopold takes what he wants, Regina wants her freedom, and Mary wants to be a ballerina.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Shadow

**_"Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is." - Jung_ **

~

It starts with ballet.

Regina herself is not great fan. Her mother had decided that Regina would an educated woman, so her nanny had taken her to operas, and ballets, and art museums over and over and over again.

Still, the princess wants to be a ballerina. And whatever Mary wants, Mary gets. 

So it comes as no surprise that a single day after Mary has pleaded with her father, "Oh please Daddy, please let me take ballet. Please!" ... Regina is wrapping a warm coat around the leotard-clad girl and sheparding her to the car.

Leopold can't attend of course. He's far too busy with his business to take his own daughter to ballet lessons. But that's what he has Regina for anyway.

His wife's job is to take care of the child. Regina's sure in his mind it's as simple as that. Which may be part of the reason why she was not consulted before Mary was signed up for ballet two days a week.

She's lost her Saturday to the brat, and instead of arranging playdates so that she can have a moment of reprieve alone in the house, she's now sitting on a bench, one of a handful of women and nannies, watching Mary's class.

It's beginner's ballet, and Mary's ten, so there isn't much to see.

Still Leopold, playing the doting father, has asked Regina to photograph his lovely child. And so she sits on the hard wood bench, peering at Mary through the two-way mirror, and occasionally snapping candids with her Castle-brand phone. 

She's somewhat surprised that no mother questions her, but perhaps they don't mind their own little darlings being featured in photographs with Mary Blanchard.

Leopold Blanchard does, after all, own the largest tech company in the United States. Castle is the cream of the crop, and makes the phone that everyone wants to have, but almost no one can afford.

Certainly not the premier model anyway, which is the one Regina has clenched in her hand.

She can feel the envious eyes of the society moms each time she pulls it from her purse.

If only they knew. The phone is not a gift, it's a curse.

Regina attends the ballet class for a solid week before she has a brilliant realization.

Mary dances in the same style of leotard each week, because if Leo's daughter is going to do anything she's going to do it the fanciest way...and the nonpareil ballet studio they're attending makes all dancers don identical black leotards and pink tights.

The sole distinction is her hair. Sometimes in a high bun, sometimes in a lower one, sometimes in an elaborate crownbraid to symbolize her status as American royalty.

Regina's fingers fly as she puts the hairstyles together, wanting to escape the head of Blanchard's brat as quickly as possible. 

Regina's sitting on the cold hard bench, ignored by the mothers around her (who quickly realized she wasn't interested in discussing the latest fashion trends and society parties), and shunned by the nannies (they're sure she's too high and mighty).

And she realizes. 

Leo never comes to class, but he asks to see photographs each evening. Those photographs are like deadweights, holding her to the bench.

But he's also Leonard Blanchard, America's busiest business man, and how will he know what day she takes the photos?

Sure, the Castle phone has a timestamp, but Regina can easily print the photos without it. She doubts Leo will care to dig into her phone for that sort of thing once he has the prints in hand. Not when he can carry phyiscal proof of his daughter the perfect ballerina to show his colleagues.

So, for the next week, Regina tests her theory. Each lesson, when the students have a break, she calls Mary to her and "fixes" her hair. A brand new style for the second part of the lesson, and in one class she has collected three days worth of hairstyles.

She keeps track of the hairstyles on her phone, in the notes section, to remind herself what she has already shown Leopold: 

Wednesday - braid

Saturday - low bun

Wednesday - high bun

Saturday - crownbraid

And so on.

Leo will likely see the list, because she knows his security check of her phone each night is a way of controlling and corraling her. But it hardly matters, because it can be excused as through planning and caring about his precious child.

And once Regina has enough photographs, she plans her reprieve.

Just a few hours away from it all, and maybe she'll be able to breath again.

She can't stop watching every session, the mothers would start to gossip. But every few Saturdays? 

So one rainy Saturday she drops Mary off at class, and doesn't sit on the hard bench. Instead, she begins to wander through the building, and it's like the fist that's always around her heart has loosened, just a little.

Regina can't go far, someone would be bound to see it, and report it to Leo. Castle surveillance cameras are everywhere, and she knows Leo has both Mary and Regina in the facial recognition program. 

A small step out of line and the system will alert him.

She's stuck in the building, but it's freer than she's been in five years. 

It's not a large building, but instead a small atheletic complex. There are dance studios on the first floor, and so Regina bypasses all of those and begins to climb the steep wooden stairs clutching the banister as she falters for a moment in her high heels.

The second floor seems empty and silent, but it's refreshing. She feels like she might be alone for once. 

She ignores the phone that's in her purse, still tracking, always tracking, her every move.

She peers into a large studio space, and quiety enters.

And stands enthralled as she watches a small blonde woman boxing with a much larger man.

It's silent except for their occcasional grunts and groans and the sound of the woman's gloves smacking into the heavier man's.

And then the woman speaks, "you're aiming too low! Hit me harder!"

Regina would never ask to be hit harder. Not when she can still feel the blossoming bruise beneath her shirt. 

But the man seems to take the suggestion to heart, and Regina wants to close her eyes.

It looks like the woman will fall but she adjusts her stance and holds her ground, and then she darts to the side and she does...something...and the man is the one on the ground instead.

And Regina gasps.

The woman looks in her direction and grins. 

"Hey!" she calls across the empty studio. "Are you impressed?"

And Regina nods slowly.

"Come back sometime and I'll teach you!"

Regina's phone beeps at that very moment and she spins on her heel and leaves the room, rushing down the creaking steps, and sliding into a seat on the bench just in time to catch Mary as she tumbles toward her.

"Maman, did you see me?"

"Yes, darling, very nice." Regina responds robotically.

But Mary seems to take it to heart, for everyone has always loved her and loves everything she does.

"Thank you," she simpers, not looking modest at all.

And later that night, when Leo has approved the photo of Mary with a tilt of his head, the child prattles on about how she's the best in her class. And Leo slides his beefy palm under Regina's skirt, a clear signal of what he will demand later that night.

And Regina merely nods her head at both of them and imagines beating Leopold to a bloody pulp.

 


End file.
